The engine crankcase vents oil under pressure through a breather pipe into the inlet after the MAF. The intercooler is the lowest part of the system, so any not forced back into the cylinders collects at the bottom.

A trickle is not usually a problem, especially at the lower intercooler joins. Most leak slightly out of there as standard, and new O rings are available (green colour) which help the issue.

Check the boost hose to the EGR valve at the front of the engine bay, it should be ever so slightly oily but much clearer than the bottom hoses.

I have heard a few things about these turbos and engines so might be on the cautious side.
Last thing I want is an engine failure due to something that I knew about that could have been
Replaced beforehand.

Here's a copy and paste from on of my posts on another forum, which may be useful if a turbo blows and the engine starts burning it's own oil (know as diesel runaway, which continues until all the oil is consumed and the engine seizes, or it gets fast enough to throw a rod):

"Mine started going into limp mode and all sorts. I took the cat off and cleaned out the exhaust side etc, which cured it for all of a fortnight.

The night it went was almost predictable, it was louder than normal and the car was a bit smokey. I was on a long empty slip road and thought I would rather have it go here than on the M6, so put my foot down in 3rd to see if it would hold up. It didn't and the smoke that came out was astonishing, thick acrid smoke.

As the slip road was empty I pretty much did an emergency stop whilst moving to the hard shoulder, and shut it off immediately.

Luckily I was aware of what to do if it did start to runaway, however the garage told me a lot of engines don't survive when they start to runaway because the driver has no idea how to stop it.

For anyone wondering, stop the car and put it in the top gear and just dump the clutch whilst standing on the brakes. The engine will be spinning so fast it will be well past it's peak torque output and should stop. If it doesn't and burns through the clutch, take it out of gear to try and prevent damage to the gearbox, and carefully open the bonnet and stuff a rag or similar in the air intake to block it off. (or spray a c02 fire extinguisher into it if you have one).

Oh, and if it runs away whilst you are doing motorway speeds, you will have trouble stalling it, as it will just want to accelerate, and if you can't stop, and are brave, you can turn the ignition off, which should activate the shut off valve (anti shudder valve on VAG diesels), but whatever you do, be prepared for loss of assisted brakes and steering, and leave the key in the ignition so the steering lock doesnt activate!"

Based on what you gents have said I will leave the turbo alone for now.
I would hope that if it was going to fail that it will give ample warning in the form of noise / smoke / performance before
catastrophic engine failure occurs giving me time to get it to the hard shoulder.

I am in fact in the trade (Diesel Fuel Injection Services / Diesel Rhino Additive) but as mentioned before, I am unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of this particular engine so felt it beneficial to ask.

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